LiNbO₃ surfaces with different antireflection coatings and from different vendors were damaged with 1.06-μm, 9.5-ns full width at half maximum laser pulses. By probing with a laser spot smaller than the separation of isolated surface defects, it was possible to separate uniform damage, which was characteristic of the coating itself, from premature, defect-driven, localized failures. Uniform failure modes were identified and thresholds extracted for each by multithreshold analysis. Frequency of defect damage was determined at several fluences much lower than required for uniform failure. It is likely that defect-driven selective failures reduce the apparent damage threshold of flood-loaded samples. Tentative identification of a selective damage threshold was made and correlated with large-spot, multimode test results. Incorporation of these results into a product-improvement program has resulted in LiNbO₃ Q-switches with increased resistance to selective damage.